Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak says he is happy to argue politics with any reasonable man or woman.

“As a politician in a democratic state, having some people say bad things about me is inevitable. If I can’t handle this, then I made the wrong career choice.

“That much I accept. I am happy to argue politics with any reasonable man or woman and appreciate Malaysians’ lively political discourse,” he said in his latest entry entitled ‘The Truth about Malaysia’ on his blog, www.1malaysia.com.my.

“However, I do think there is a point where democratic discourse ends and is replaced by nothing more than abuse, lies and misrepresentation and those who are serious about our great country’s future should try not to cross it,” he said.  

He said: “Conspiracy theories belong in Jason Bourne movies, not in rational political discourse. Yet it seems some in our country cannot resist their allure because they absolve their promoters of responsibility for their own failures.

“Cannot win the argument or get your way? Then it is so much easier to complain that the system is fixed than it is to do the hard work of finding a better argument or humbly admitting one’s error.”

NONENajib (left) said it worries him that far too many who say they want to lead Malaysia are unable to restrain themselves when they are engaged in discourse.

“For them no story, no claim or outrageous theory, no matter how baseless or fact-free, is off-limits, even if it does massive damage to the country’s reputation abroad and our domestic stability,” he said.

He said he would not stress enough the vital importance of that stability for all Malaysians, whatever their background and heritage, adding that it was one of the country’s greatest selling points internationally.

“But as diversity is our great strength, it could just as easily turn into a fatal weakness if political leaders opt for provocation over responsibility and together we did not show self-restraint and understanding of the delicate balances in our country,” he said.

‘Leveraging the strength diversity gives us’

Najib said the 1Malaysia concept he introduced was about “leveraging the strength diversity gives us so that we can all, the whole nation, grow stronger together”.

“It builds on the reality of today’s Malaysia - our different heritages and traditions, religious and educational outlooks and experiences - it does not try to pretend these differences do not exist.

“Yet 1Malaysia also says that these differences are no barrier to achieving our common national goal of increased prosperity and it is also about saying that as we grow stronger as a country our growing resources and opportunities should be distributed to deal with today’s problems and not those faced by my father’s generation,” he said.

Najib said several issues had been brought up by the opponents of 1Malaysia which he added he would address at length in his next blog entry.

- Bernama


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